


Bagel Seeds

by orphan_account



Category: Lego Ninjago
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, First Meetings, M/M, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, jay is baby
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-06
Updated: 2020-05-06
Packaged: 2021-03-03 00:07:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,143
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24045628
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: For his entire life, Cole has questioned why his soulmark is so utterly random. On his first day of college, he’s about to find out.
Relationships: Cole/Kai (Ninjago)
Kudos: 119





	Bagel Seeds

**Author's Note:**

> pls forgive me i don’t know how college works

Cole’s first day at university had finally arrived. He’d kind of been dreading it for weeks, but after actually spending some time there it didn’t seem so bad. Moving in went smoothly, thankfully, and his roommate hadn’t arrived yet. Which was great. It gave Cole a good two hours to organise his things unbothered and in peace. His side of the room may look slightly emo to anyone who didn’t know him, but really he just liked the colour black. It was his second favourite, after orange. But orange looked too tacky for decorating, so he went with black. It looked good to him and that’s all that mattered.

After settling in, Cole had his first class, Art. It was... definitely something, to say the least. He arrived a few minutes early to pick out the best seats for him and Lloyd, his only friend taking this class. Zane focused on robotics, engineering, and things related to that whereas Cole and Lloyd opted for creative arts. Anyway, Lloyd showed up right as he sat down, and they talked amongst themselves until the lesson began. Today the professor would simply give a lecture; they wouldn’t start the practicals until the next day. 

However, the peace was disrupted moments before the lesson began. Just as the clock struck one, two boys burst through the door, out of breath from running. Both had brown hair - one had it styled up with gel (somehow managing to pull it off) and the other had messy curls that fell into his freckled face. The former appeared to be slightly taller than the latter, with a scar stretching from his forehead across his left eye. Cole wondered how he’d managed to get it. He wore red in contrast to the smaller’s blue. Their professor, Wu, quirked an eyebrow at them, silently asking for an explanation.

“Sorry, professor, we-“ the blue one stopped for a moment to breathe. “-we got lost.” 

The red one nodded and bowed in apology. “Sorry. It won’t happen again.” Red grabbed Blue by the arm and dragged him to sit right in front of where Cole sat. Their eyes met and Cole swore his heart skipped a beat, but that couldn’t be possible. His first-day nerves were just acting up. 

From then on the lesson could be considered normal enough. That is until the same Blue from earlier managed to cause another scene halfway through the lesson. Wu rambled on about the ideologies of art or something, and nobody seemed to particularly care. Cole had tuned out for just a few minutes, idly sketching something that resembled a hedgehog on his paper, when he heard a quiet rustling from in front of him. He directed his attention to Red and Blue, and lo and behold. Blue had produced a bag of what seemed to be - fruit loops? The cereal brand. Somehow he’d thought that was a good idea, and Cole watched as Blue opened it under the desk and sneakily ate them. Red seemed to know what Blue was doing and chose to ignore it. But Cole could see how his grip on his pencil tightened, and his body lightly vibrated from bouncing his leg. 

Just before Cole could switch his attention back onto his notes, Red elbowed Blue. Hard, from the looks of it. Blue squeaked in shock, but recovered quickly and elbowed Red back. It was becoming an all-out war until Wu cleared his throat from the front of the room. 

“Kai. Jay. Do you have anything you’d like to share with the class?” He asked, voice cool as a river. You could hardly detect any annoyance. Every pair of eyes in the room had shifted onto them, the bag of fruit loops now being held up in the air away from Red’s reach. 

Caught in the act, they froze. Red looked at Blue and Blue looked at Red. “Um... fruit loops?” Blue tried, laughing timidly. Cole couldn’t see his face, but he knew it must be strawberry red. Red simply face planted into the desk. Cole heard Lloyd snicker beside him.

“Thank you for those words of wisdom, Jay. I’d be glad to hear more when you and Kai join me in detention later.” Wu said. The entire class were chuckling now, some full-on laughing. Cole felt sorry for Red - Kai - considering it kinda wasn’t his fault. But he did start the elbow-war, so he got himself into it. 

As everyone went back to their notes, Cole let his eyes drift back down onto Kai. The tips of his ears had turned red (cute, the traitorous voice in his head supplied), and he was scrawling messily on his page. Cole couldn’t help but notice on Kai’s inner wrist he had the single word ‘Hey’ written, neat in comparison to his own handwriting. Was that Kai’s soulmark? If so, he had it rough. Cole’s own soulmark was a work of art, he could tell you that. A very long sentence spread across his entire inner forearm, containing two curses and something Cole had yet to figure out. If anything, he slightly feared meeting his soulmate. 

When the class ended, Cole gathered up his stuff. Lloyd bid farewell as he had another class in fifteen minutes. Poor guy. Cole noticed how Kai stormed off without Jay, leaving him pouting. He seemed kinda down, so Cole reluctantly decided to approach him. 

“Hey,” Cole called. Jay looked up at him, and wow, were his eyes an electric shade of blue. “I saw how your friend just left you. You okay?”

Jay tugged on his orange scarf. “Yeah. I mean, I kinda deserved it, but this place is massive! I’m definitely gonna get lost on my own.” He smiled up at Cole. “Why the interest?”

“Oh, I followed your fruit loops situation from the beginning. It was great, man. Completely amazing,” Cole grinned at Jay as they made their way to the stairs.

“Why, thank you. I live to entertain,” Jay mock-bowed when they met up. “It runs in the family.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Totally!” Jay was positively glowing at this point. “You’ve heard of Cliff Gordon, right?”

“The guy who plays Fritz Donnagon in those cheesy movies?” Cole asked as they left the hall.

“He’s my dad. And they’re not cheesy!” Jay stated, waving a finger at him. 

“So you’re Jay Gordon then?”

“Jay Walker, actually. I was adopted when I turned five after he passed away. I never knew my birth mother.”

Jay probably didn’t want his sympathies. “I’m Cole Brookstone. Nice to meetcha.”

“Same to you!” Jay extended a hand for him to shake, which Cole took. After shaking, Cole realised he didn’t have a clue where they were. 

“Hey, have you been to your dorm yet?” Cole questioned. 

Jay let out a sheepish laugh. “Not yet, actually. All my stuff’s in Kai’s room. I was kinda anxious about meeting my roommate and all, so he said he’d give me till the end of the day.”

“Kai sounds like a good friend. For the most part.”

“Oh, he is. We’ve known each other since middle school, which is why we get along so well. I’m dating his sister, Nya, and I’m surprised he hasn’t throttled me yet. You should’ve seen what he did to the last guy she went out with.” Jay shivered. “Actually, no. You don’t.”

Cole laughed. This guy was certainly interesting. “So you wanna head to the dorms? I can come with you to meet your roommate, then you could get your stuff from Kai. If he’s still mad, I can help you.”

There were literal stars in Jay’s eyes, Cole swore it. “Really? Oh my god, you’re the best. Thank you so much!” He beamed at him. Jay grabbed his arm, dragging him off in a random direction. 

“That’s not the right way.”

“Oh, well, you lead then!”

Ten minutes later, they’d found their way to the dorms. Somehow. “So, what number is your room?” Cole asked once they’d reached the elevator. 

“Uhhh... 206, I think?” Jay said after contemplating for a few seconds. 

Cole’s eyes widened. “No joke?”

“No, I don’t think so. Why?”

“Dude, that’s my room.”

Silence swallowed the air around them. Jay looked him in the eye, and Cole could sense the joy from a mile away. 

“Really?! That’s amazing! I’m so blessed,” Jay wiped a fake tear from his eye and draped himself over Cole. 

Cole let out a laugh through his nose and was about to reply when his phone rang. “Sorry, lemme get this.” He answered the phone as the elevator pulled up to their floor. “Hey-“

He couldn’t get a single word more in before a loud, angry voice boomed across the phone. “What the hell was that stunt back there what the fuck were you thinking I mean bagel seeds?! Really?!” 

Cole blinked. What. What? Those were- “You fucker!” He yelled onto the phone, ignoring the look Jay sent him. “It’s you!” 

“What? Wait, what did I do?” The voice asked. It seemed familiar, but Cole couldn’t put his finger on it. “Wait, you’re not Jay-“

“Jay?” Cole furrowed his brow. Said boy mouthed ‘what?’ up at him. Oh shit. “No, I’m not.”

“I am so so sorry, please forgive me-“

“Chill. It’s fine. I yelled at you because you screamed my soulmark words at me over the phone.” Cole assured him. His heart did skip a beat this time. His soulmate was on the other end of the phone! And by the sound of it, it might be-

“Your soulmark?” He went silent for a beat. “Oh fuck, it’s my fault I have the word hey written on me, I am such a dumbass- who is this?” 

“Cole. Is this Kai? From art?”

“You were there?”

“Right behind you.”

“God, I can’t believe you saw that. It’s Jay’s fault, believe me.”

“Jay?” Jay punched him lightly on the arm, demanding to know why he kept saying his name. Cole grinned. “I have Jay here right now, if you wanna talk to him.”

“Wha- where are you?” Kai asked.

“On the second floor of the dorms. Where are you?”

“Coming down from the elevator.”

A second later, the elevator dinged and out stepped Kai. Jay squeaked and moved to hide behind Cole, who hung up the phone and moved to meet the incoming boy. 

Kai smirked upon meeting his gaze. “My my, who knew you were such a looker? I got lucky with the soulmate draw.” He said, leaning in close to Cole. Being half a head shorter than Cole didn’t stop Kai. 

Cole felt a blush rise to his cheeks. Kai’s prettiness stood out more close, and his eyes were two different colours. One a deep chocolate brown, and the other a bright forest green. “You- you have eyes,” Cole managed. Fuck, he was bad at this.

Kai laughed. “You’re cute. You know, I-“

“HOLD UP.” Oh yeah, Jay. Cole had almost forgotten about him. “Did I miss something? You two were just on the phone and what? I- you don’t know each other? Did you call the wrong number? I heard you say something about your soulmark are you soulmates?! Someone explain!” He inhaled deeply.

“You done, sparky?” Kai crossed his arms. He seemed used to this. 

“I’m done. Now, someone please explain.”

Cole unlocked the door to his dorm. “Come in here. It’s comfier.”

Once they were settled down, Jay laying across his new bed facing Cole and Kai, who were sitting knee to knee on Cole’s bed, Kai took the opportunity to explain.

“So, I wanted to call Jay to shout at him, for that shit you pulled in art.” He began. Jay looked like he wanted to protest, but stopped himself. “But I must’ve dialled the wrong number, because Cole here picked up. Turns out we have each other’s soulmarks, boom we’re soulmates.” He finished with a wide hand gesture, almost whacking Cole in the face. 

“That’s about it, really,” Cole added. 

Jay furrowed his brow. “I see.” He sat up excitedly, grinning ear to ear. “So what you’re saying is it’s my fault you two met?”

“Elaborate on that, please.” Kai tilted his head.

“If I hadn’t done what I did and gotten us both detentions, you never would’ve gotten mad, and never would’ve called the wrong number, therefore not meeting Cole yet. I know, I know, you can thank me later.” Jay explained, nodding to himself at the end.

Cole and Kai took one glance at each other and burst out laughing.

“What? Was it something I said?” Jay frantically looked at both of them, seemingly confused before he began to laugh too.

Cole could absolutely get used to this. “I do have one question, though.”

Kai peered up at him through the hair falling in his face, smiling. “Yeah?”

“What the fuck are bagel seeds?”

**Author's Note:**

> sorry for any grammar mistakes this is a mess i know
> 
> thanks so much for reading!! comments and kudos are always appreciated <3


End file.
